“Inglourious Basterds,” a 2009 film written, produced, and directed by Quentin Tarantino, marked his seventh film. Tarantino gained recognition as a screenwriter for the critically acclaimed films “True Romance” (1993) and “Natural Born Killers” (1994). Subsequently, he had already embarked on a successful career as a director, helming the following films: “Reservoir Dogs” (1992), “Pulp Fiction” (1994), “Jackie Brown” (1997), “Kill Bill: Volume 1” (2003), “Kill Bill: Volume 2” (2004), “Death Proof” (2007), “Django Unchained” (2012), “The Hateful Eight” (2015), and “Once Upon A Time in Hollywood” (2019).

“Inglourious Basterds” on 4K UHD Blu-ray is presented in the 2.39:1 aspect ratio with HDR10 form of high dynamic range. This movie was shot on 35mm film using the Arriflex 435 and Panavision Panaflex Millennium cameras.

According to Arrow Video, this has received a new transfer from the 35mm original camera negative. Essentially it was an upscale of the original 2K master. Universal provided Arrow with this transfer to which Arrow remastered it. They made some rather impressive changes. First, they [Arrow] changed the color timing (all for the better) and created a new HDR pass. This resulted in more bright and realistic whites for the colors and a solid black level. Also, depth was added and the film grain was restored, which had been scrubbed away on the first 4K release. And, finally, they authored a new 4K encode of the film. As a result, this runs at a significantly higher video bit rate than the original 4K release. I’ll be discussing that info further below.

Next, let me get technical, examining the 4K UHD Blu-ray Disc itself here. This new 2025 4K release uses a BD-100 (100 gigabytes) disc, 92.91 gigabytes total, and 90.8 gigabytes itself for the film. Looking back on it, the original 2021 4K UHD Blu-ray release used 90.83 gigabytes in total on a BD-100 disc. Out of that, the 2021 4K UHD Blu-ray only used 61.2 gigabytes for the film. So, this new 4K version is a much, much larger file than the 2021 4K release. It is 1.48 times larger than the 2021 4K version. And it’s using almost 30 gigabytes more disc space for the movie this time. That’s a very considerable amount.

Based on my observations via my 4K UHD Blu-ray player, this seems to peak at around 170 Mbps. It then runs roughly around 72.4 Mbps and dips down as low as 48.9 Mbps. According to info on the PC side, this new 4K seems to have an overall video bitrate of 74.3 Mb/s average. The original 2021 4K UHD Blu-ray had an overall video bitrate of 49.4 Mb/s. More of the disc space is used for the film this time around. The increase is obvious. And it’s running at a higher average bitrate now on the new 4K release.

Next, I want to visually compare the original 2009 Blu-ray and the new 2025 4K UHD Blu-ray from Arrow Video. For those who want to see more of these Blu-ray VS. 4K screenshots, click the text below.

4K UHD Blu-ray Screenshots

Audio Quality

A Blu-ray Disc is included with extras only and not the movie. This includes the following bonus materials listed below.

• NEW “What Would Sally Do?” (11 minutes, 8 seconds – HD) is a featurette dedicated to editor Sally Menke. This, from 2024, features discussion with Fred Raskin (editor) who worked as an assistant on this and editor some other Tarantino films, after Sally passed away.
• NEW “Doomstruck” (11 minutes, 24 seconds – HD) is an interview, from 2024, with actor Omar Doom. He played “PFC. Omar Ulmer” in the movie. He also co-starred in the Tarantino film “Death Proof” (2007).
• NEW “Blood Fiction” (22 minutes, 14 seconds – HD) is an interview, from 2024, with special makeup effects supervisor Greg Nicotero of KNB Effects. He worked on this and other numerous Tarantino films such as “Death Proof” (2007) and “The Hateful Eight” (2015).
• NEW “Making it Right: The Kindness of Quentin Tarantino” (22 minutes, 4 seconds – HD) is a visual essay, from 2024, by film critic Walter Chaw. 
• NEW “Film History on Fire” (19 minutes, 49 seconds – HD) is a visual essay, from 2024, by film historian, curator, and critic, Pamela Hutchinson.
• NEW “ Filmmaking in Occupied France” (15 minutes, 42 seconds – HD) is an interview (from 2024) with French film scholar Christine Leteux (author of “Continental Films: French Cinema Under German Control”).
• Archive Extras include:
  • “Roundtable Discussion” (30 minutes, 47 seconds – HD) is hosted by film critic Elvis Mitchell and features writer/director Quentin Tarantino and actor Brad Pitt.
  • “Nation’s Pride” (6 minutes, 13 seconds – HD) is the film within the film. You get two different audio track options here. 
  • “The Making of Nation’s Pride” (4 minutes, 2 seconds – HD) 
  • “The Original Inglourious Bastards” (7 minutes, 41 seconds – HD) takes a look back at the film “The Inglourious Bastards” from 1978 directed by Enzo G. Castellari that inspired this movie. This includes an interview with Eli Roth (“Sgt. Donny Donowitz”). Actor Bo Svenson also gives a brief interview here. He played in the original film and was featured in the “Nation’s Pride” film within this film. Castellari actually makes a cameo appearance in the 2009 film and gives a very brief interview. Finally, the trailer for the 1978 film is featured. 
  • “A Conversation with Rod Taylor” (6 minutes, 45 seconds – HD) features an interview with actor Rod Taylor, who played Winston Churchill in this film. He also starred in films “The Birds” (1963) and “Dark of the Sun” (1968). 
  • “Rod Taylor on Victoria Bitter” (3 minutes, 21 seconds – HD) again is an interview with actor Rod Taylor, who played Winston Churchill in this film.
  • “Quentin Tarantino’s Camera Angel” (2 minutes, 44 seconds – HD) includes a lot of scene starts via the clapperboard or “slate.” This gives you a view of where Quentin Tarantino was at the start of each one of those scenes shown. 
  • “Hi Sallys” (2 minutes, 11 seconds – HD) were greetings the cast left in takes for Tarantino’s longtime film editor, the late Sally Menke.
  • Extended and Alternate Scenes include:
    • “Lunch with Goebbels – Extended Version” (7 minutes, 12 seconds – HD) 
    • “La Louisiana Card Game – Extended Version” (2 minutes, 9 seconds – HD)
    • “Nation’s Pride Begins – Alternate Version” (2 minutes, 6 seconds – HD)
  • “Film Poster Gallery Tour with Elvis Mitchell” (11 minutes, 2 seconds – HD) 
  • Trailers include:
    • Trailer 1 (1 minute, 47 seconds – HD)
    • Trailer 2 (2 minutes, 25 seconds – HD)
    • Trailer 3 (2 minutes, 10 seconds – HD) 
    • Trailer 4 (1 minute, 19 seconds – HD) 

The bonus materials here are downright perfect. On the included Blu-ray you get well over 2 hours of supplemental material. This includes six new features. It also has all of the original DVD (and Blu-ray) extras ported over and presented in HD.

“Inglourious Basterds” proved to be one of my favorite films that Quentin Tarantino has made (so far). You should understand that Tarantino is telling his own version of World War II history. He unapologetically takes creative liberties here, at the expense of the Nazis. One can’t blame him for telling the story in his way. Even if some parts are not 100% historically precise. The performances given here by Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, and especially Mélanie Laurent are downright unforgettable. Even Quentin’s friend Eli Roth gives a memorable performance as one of the “basterds.” It’s certainly worth noting this movie received a total of eight Academy Awards nominations. Christoph Waltz would end up winning an Oscar for “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role.”

The critics enjoyed this film, as it carries a “Certified Fresh” badge on Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences also really liked the film as well, based on ratings at Rotten Tomatoes and on IMDb. The movie reportedly had a budget of 70 million dollars. It ended up grossing 321 million dollars at the box office worldwide. It’s safe to say this was a success for Universal Studios.

In terms of video quality, this comes from a new 2K transfer. It also includes a remarkable job at up-conversion to 4K with a lot of improvements. Sure, it is a 2K up-conversion, yet, this is by far the best that the movie has ever looked. The color timing changes are much needed and the film grain is finally visible again. The 4K visual presentation finally feels cinematic again. Simply put, Arrow Video did a great job remastering the source material that Universal provided.

In terms of audio quality, this brings you the original 5.1 theatrical mix (in a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio format) along with uncompressed PCM 2.0 Stereo sound. You should hopefully pick the 5.1 mix unless you’re on a soundbar. This surround sound mix does the film absolute justice. There’s significant rear channel usage for the sound effects and music. A strong amount of LFE can be felt via the subwoofer. Dialogue is spot-on, never being overpowered by the action. This is the definition of a perfect sound mix that didn’t need to be turned into Atmos. It’s fine how it is.

Bonus materials here are downright perfect. You get well over 2 hours of extras here that are sure to leave any fan of the movie pleased. You get a total of six new bonus features. Additionally, all of the legacy DVD (Blu-ray) supplemental material is ported over and included separately on the extras Blu-ray.

“Inglourious Basterds” Special Edition on 4K UHD Blu-ray (from Arrow Video) is a considerably different visual experience. It contrasts significantly with the original 2021 4K UHD Blu-ray release directly from Universal. As stated, this is the best the movie has ever looked on 4K UHD Blu-ray. The folks at Arrow Video did an excellent job here. This comes as a highly recommended upgrade.